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1
Ken Bell
From:
Ken Bell
Sent:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 1:00 PM
To:
C.J. Lewis; Charles L. Scott, Sr.; Clarry Ellis; Doris Harris; Dr. Rick Harper; Ed Fleming;Enoch Leatherwood; Gary Montee; Gerald McKenzie; Janet Lander, Esq.; Jeremy Brown;Jimmy Cunningham; John Gormley; John Peacock; Judy Burns; Michael Hardin; Norm Ross;Rev. LuTimothy May; Richard Stone; Rick Finch; Rusty Tanner; SDr. John Veasley; SharonBarnett; Stephen Moorehead; Tim Common
Cc:
bill ross
Subject:
FW: Consolidated Government
fyi
 
Kenneth B. BellClark Partington Hart Larry Bond & Stackhouse125 West Romana Street, Suite 800Pensacola, FL 32502T: 850.434.9200 F: 850.432.7340kenbell@cphlaw.com 
NOTICE:
 
This
 
e
‐
mail
 
message
 
and
 
any
 
attachments
 
are
 
private
 
communication
 
sent
 
by
 
the
 
law
 
firm
 
of 
 
Clark
 
Partington
 
Hart
 
Larry
 
Bond
 
&
 
Stackhouse,
 
and
 
may
 
contain
 
confidential,
 
legally
 
privileged
 
information
 
meant
 
solely
 
for
 
the
 
intended
 
recipient.
 
If 
 
you
 
are
 
not
 
the
 
intended
 
recipient,
 
you
 
are
 
hereby
 
notified
 
that
 
any
 
use,
 
dissemination,
 
distribution,
 
or
 
copying
 
of 
 
this
 
communication
 
is
 
strictly
 
prohibited.
 
Please
 
notify
 
the
 
sender
 
immediately
 
by
 
replying
 
to
 
this
 
message,
 
and
 
delete
 
the
 
e
‐
mail
 
and
 
any
 
attachments
 
from
 
your
 
system.
 
Thank
 
you.
 
From:
Rick Finch [mailto:rick.finch@theactigraph.com]
Sent:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 11:58 AM
To:
Ken Bell
Subject:
FW: Consolidated Government
This
 
is
 
an
 
FYI…I
 
will
 
also
 
forward
 
to
 
you
 
the
 
comments
 
of 
 
Ron
 
Hixson
 
as
 
well
 
and
 
the
 
comments
 
I
 
made
 
back
 
to
 
them
‐
 
Thanks
 
for
 
all
 
that
 
you
 
do!
 
Rick W. Finch
 
Senior
 
Vice
 
President,
 
ActiGraph
 
15
 
W.
 
Main
 
Street
 
Pensacola,
 
FL
 
32502
 
Ph:
 
850.332.7900
 
ext.101
 
Fax:
 
850.332.7904
 
Cell:
 
850.512.9796
 
www.theactigraph.com
 
www.actitrainer.com
 
From:
Stephen Sorrell [mailto:sorrell@ecua.org
 
]
Sent:
Friday, December 11, 2009 11:09 AM
To:
'Rick Finch'
Cc:
'Tim Haag '
Subject:
Consolidated Government
 
I have read some of the recent changes that are being recommended which may impact the operations of the UtilityAuthority. I believe your original intent was to keep the utility component operating like a private business because of the
 
2
obvious efficiencies. Some of the recent modifications by whoever is writing the document are causing me concern. I willtry to briefly explain them in the following paragraphs.
 
When we originally talked there was a 5 or 7 person utility board being proposed. I mentioned the larger the number themore unmanageable the agency becomes. You seemed to favor 5 elected officials and 2 others appointed by the newgovernment for a total of 7 members. I reluctantly supported your selection. It is my understanding there is now going tobe either 9 or 11 members. This large number serving on a utility board will make it dysfunctional. Clearly someonedoesn’t have a clue how we operate. I meet with every board member before any public meeting so they are wellinformed. It also limits surprises and allows me to personally dialogue with each official on a variety of issues. This is atime consuming chore for 5 members and will be close to impossible with 9 or 11. A large number like this is a mistakethat will sacrifice efficiency and minimize private sector type of decision making.
Five members elected at large or likethey are today is much more efficient. The two additional appointments by the consolidated government can benon partisan appointments if they are mandatory.
 
The second issue seems to involve politics and an attempt to have elected political officials making decisions instead ofutilizing private sector paradigms for efficiency sake. Someone apparently wants the election of somewhere between 7and 11 Utility Authority Board members to be partisan. This is simply a huge error and will insert the inherent politicalinefficiencies into a truly good operation that needs to stay as private as possible to serve the ratepayers. The ECUAcurrently operates very much like a private business and only rarely does politics interfere with the decisions. When itdoes, the private sector efficiencies go out the window. Whoever is writing the charter is clearly a government sector typeof person who is trying to politicize everything. It may work for general government, but it will destroy the efficiencies wecurrently exercise in the utility business.
The Utility Authority Board members should be non partisan with privatebusiness experience
.
 
Last, but not least, paragraph F is written so the utility authority must use all of the government services provided unless itgoes thru an elaborate justification proving why it is not required. This is another huge error if you want the utilities tooperate like the private sector. This decision needs to be the domain of the Utility Authority Board, not mandated in somecharter document. Again someone who doesn’t know what they are doing is writing this with good intentions, but a lack ofunderstanding of the private nature of utility operations. The ECUA uses special legal counsel all of the time, hires basedupon licenses and special qualifications, uses private sector printing and public information firms for informationdissemination, just to name a few. The personnel management system is also similar to the private sector without thebureaucracy and inefficiencies of general government. Utilization of a mandated government system would cripple theutility system operation. This language needs to be changed to give the Utility Authority Board the decision to make thesetypes of decisions. Paragraph F should simply read
“The Utility Authority Board may utilize the services set forth inSection 8.03 below, or may select to utilize more efficient and cost effective methods at its sole discretion”.
 
 
3
Ken Bell
From:
Ken Bell
Sent:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 12:59 PM
To:
Janet Lander; epfleming@pensacolalaw.com
Cc:
bill ross; C.J. Lewis; Charles L. Scott, Sr.; Clarry Ellis; Doris Harris; Dr. Rick Harper; EnochLeatherwood; Gary Montee; Gerald McKenzie; Jeremy Brown; Jimmy Cunningham; JohnGormley; John Peacock; Judy Burns; Michael Hardin; Norm Ross; Rev. LuTimothy May;Richard Stone; Rick Finch; Rusty Tanner; SDr. John Veasley; Sharon Barnett; StephenMoorehead; Tim Common
Subject:
FW: Consolidation Draft
fyi
 
Kenneth
 
B.
 
Bell
 
Clark
 
Partington
 
Hart
 
Larry
 
Bond
 
&
 
Stackhouse
 
125
 
West
 
Romana
 
Street,
 
Suite
 
800
 
Pensacola,
 
FL
 
32502
 
T:
 
850.434.9200
 
F:
 
850.432.7340
 
kenbell@cphlaw.com
 
NOTICE:
 
This
 
e
‐
mail
 
message
 
and
 
any
 
attachments
 
are
 
private
 
communication
 
sent
 
by
 
the
 
law
 
firm
 
of
 
Clark
 
Partington
 
Hart
 
Larry
 
Bond
 
&
 
Stackhouse,
 
and
 
may
 
contain
 
confidential,
 
legally
 
privileged
 
information
 
meant
 
solely
 
for
 
the
 
intended
 
recipient.
 
If
 
you
 
are
 
not
 
the
 
intended
 
recipient,
 
you
 
are
 
hereby
 
notified
 
that
 
any
 
use,
 
dissemination,
 
distribution,
 
or
 
copying
 
of
 
this
 
communication
 
is
 
strictly
 
prohibited.
 
Please
 
notify
 
the
 
sender
 
immediately
 
by
 
replying
 
to
 
this
 
message,
 
and
 
delete
 
the
 
e
‐
mail
 
and
 
any
 
attachments
 
from
 
your
 
system.
 
Thank
 
you.
 ‐‐‐‐‐
Original
 
Message
‐‐‐‐‐
From:
 
Rick
 
Finch
 
[mailto:rick.finch@theactigraph.com]
 
Sent:
 
Wednesday,
 
December
 
16,
 
2009
 
11:58
 
AM
 
To:
 
Ken
 
Bell
 
Subject:
 
FW:
 
Consolidation
 
Draft
 
Rick
 
W.
 
Finch
 
Senior
 
Vice
 
President,
 
ActiGraph
 
15
 
W.
 
Main
 
Street
 
Pensacola,
 
FL
 
32502
 
Ph:
 
850.332.7900
 
ext.101
 
Fax:
 
850.332.7904
 
Cell:
 
850.512.9796
 
www.theactigraph.com
 
www.actitrainer.com
 ‐‐‐‐‐
Original
 
Message
‐‐‐‐‐
From:
 
Ron
 
C.
 
Hixson
 
[mailto:rchixson@co.escambia.fl.us]
 
Sent:
 
Friday,
 
December
 
11,
 
2009
 
3:04
 
PM
 
To:
 
rick.finch@actitrainer.com
 
Subject:
 
Consolidation
 
Draft
 
Rick,
 
We
 
have
 
reviewed
 
the
 
draft
 
recommendation
 
and
 
are
 
somewhat
 
confused
 
and
 
have
 
some
 
questions.
 
of 00

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